Keepers of the Game

Filmmaker: Judd EhrlichFestivals: TribecaRuntime: 82 minutes

Synopsis:
Lacrosse was born in Akwesasne Mohawk Territory as a sacred game, traditionally reserved for men. Just o! the reservation at Salmon River High in Fort Covington, NY an all-Native girls lacrosse team comes together, seeking to be the first Native women’s team to bring home a Section Championship. But first, they will have to overcome their crosstown rivals, Massena High. As the season comes to a head, the team is faced with increasing ambivalence in their own community and the girls must prove that the game of lacrosse is their rightful inheritance. With more than just the championship on the line, the girls fight to blaze a new path for the next generation of Native women, while still honoring their people’s tradition in a changing world.

About The Filmmaker

Judd Ehrlich is a Grand Clio and Emmy Award-winning director and producer who “clearly knows his craft” (The New York Times) and “has mastered the art of exposing compelling and honest stories” (AOL). The son of an architect and schoolteacher, he grew up in lower Manhattan and, at fourteen, was the youngest feature reporter at a New York newspaper.

Ehrlich’s recent documentaries KEEPERS OF THE GAME and WE COULD BE KING, produced with Tribeca Studios and The Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation, forged a new model for documentary production and premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and on ABC television. KEEPERS was a New York Times Critics’ Pick and nominated for a Critics’ Choice Award and KING won an Emmy and Grand Clio Award.

Before film, Ehrlich was a caseworker in NYC for Project Renewal, Homes for the Homeless and YAI. He lives with his wife and two children in Flatbush, Brooklyn, where his family lived for five generations. Ehrlich is a Vassar College graduate and teaches filmmaking.